


No One Told Virgil

by Relh99



Series: While We Wait [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Mention of Panic Attacks, Spoilers for Putting Others First, mention of sharp objects, no beta we die like men, takes place after putting others first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relh99/pseuds/Relh99
Summary: Virgil didn’t feel the need to talk to Thomas after the wedding, not wanting to add anxiety to the pile of emotions he was feeling. Roman and Patton were more than capable of handling this.Unknown to Virgil though, Thomas received help from someone he’s warned Thomas about several times in the past.
Series: While We Wait [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742587
Comments: 173
Kudos: 435
Collections: Comforting Roman after the Putting Others First shit & everyone making up cause I need it





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Putting Others First
> 
> I’ve been part of the Sanders Sides fandom since the first video of them in 2016, but this is my first time writing something for the fandom. Virgil’s absence in Putting Others First inspired me so I figured I’d write a one-shot to fill in some questions I had about where Virgil was. Hope y’all enjoy!

Virgil felt bad for sitting out on the group meeting, but it wasn’t like he was needed. Thomas wasn’t feeing anxious, otherwise he would’ve been dragged up. Virgil had done enough damage the last two times, keeping Thomas awake and making him question if he was a good person or not. If Thomas wasn’t anxious, he wasn’t about to pop up and ruin that peace. Instead, Virgil took the time to leave his room and wander around the mind palace, enjoying the quiet. He knew for a fact that Patton and Roman were busy talking to Thomas about the wedding. That was one shit show Virgil didn’t want any part of. 

Virgil dragged his feet down the hall, making his way toward the kitchen to grab a snack to take back to his room. He walked past Logan’s room and paused. There was a sign on his door that read “I am currently in a meeting, please be quiet.” Virgil frowned at the sign but kept walking, not wanting to disturb him. He had assumed Logan would’ve gone up to talk to Thomas with Patton and Roman, but apparently he stayed behind. Virgil closed his eyes and let himself take in the emotions coming from Thomas. Normally, he tried to block them out it they didn’t have to do with his own role, but when the strong wave of raw anger, confusion, sadness, and frustration hit Virgil, he suddenly understood why Logan stayed behind. Whatever Roman and Patton were dealing with was intense and Logan was not the best with emotions. Safer to keep a distance. 

Virgil separated himself from Thomas’ emotions and hesitated. He hated how depressing everything had felt, but he knew if he showed up, he’d only be adding anxiety to the mix. Thomas didn’t need that on top of everything else. He wondered if Remus had made a reappearance, but quickly pushed away his concerns. If Remus was adding on to Thomas’ emotional distress, Patton and Roman were more than capable of handling it, and if they weren’t, Logan would’ve sucked it up and lectured everyone until Thomas either calmed down or got bored and tired out. 

He knew Deceit couldn’t be up there, otherwise he’d be there too. Anytime Thomas had to interact with Deceit in the past, his anxiety would spike and drag Virgil up. As much as Virgil hated dealing with the snake, he’d rather risk running into him in the mind palace instead of Thomas’ living room. Virgil made a quick mental tally of who he believed to currently be in the mind palace and sighed with relief. Assuming it was just Logan and Deceit with him, Virgil could count on them staying in their rooms. 

Needless to say, Virgil was shocked when he walked into the common area just to find Remus hanging upside down off of the couch. The Duke smiled at him as Virgil paused in the hallway. 

“Hey, Verge!” Remus purred. “Didn’t expect to see you out and about!”

“Remus,” Virgil greeted stiffly. “I figured you were up tormenting Thomas.”

Remus grinned and rolled over his shoulder off of the couch and onto the floor. He stood up quickly and waved off Virgil’s comment. “Nah, that’d be too easy! A little too predictable if you ask me! I figured I’d wait around until Thomas starts to forget about me that way when I do show back up he’ll be so spooked he won’t remember how to get rid of me!”

“Devious as ever,” Virgil sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. “Speaking of deviants, where’s Deceit?”

“Why, trying to catch up like the good ol’ times?”

“No, just trying to keep tabs on everyone’s location. I’m just out to grab a snack. I’m trying to avoid as much conversation as possible.”

“Well you’re doing a piss poor job there, J. Delightful,” Remus laughed. 

“You stole that from Roman.”

“Every now and then my brother manages to come up with something creative enough to strike my fancy,” Remus shrugged. “If you’re looking for the snake, last I saw he was in his den. I’d keep the noise down if I were you, though! He threatened to shove me off the nearest cliff if I bothered him.”

“Hence why you’re in the common room for once.”

“Exactly!” Remus clapped. “Go grab whatever you came out here for. I’m debating if I should add a mural to the wall or try and do it on the ceiling.”

“Whatever damage you’re about to do, do it on the ceiling. It’ll take everyone else longer to find it and take it down then,” Virgil suggested as he made his way towards the kitchen. Remus yelled his thanks after him but Virgil payed him no mind. The less he knew, the better. He wasn’t a fan of the ignorance is bliss idea, but when it came to the Duke, the less he knew what was going on in that man’s head, the better he managed to sleep at night. 

Virgil managed to find a bag of granola clusters on the counter in the kitchen, so he snagged those and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. He wasn’t looking for anything too heavy. He knew once Patton and Roman finished talking to Thomas, they’d all discuss dinner for that night. Well, by all, he knew Logan, Roman, and Patton would discuss and he’d just eat whatever was decided on and Remus and Deceit would fend for themselves like always. It was a weird routine, but it worked for them. 

He was just about to head back into his room when Logan walked in. Virgil jumped in surprise but quickly recovered. Logan didn’t say anything about his reaction, just blankly looking around.

“I see you have grabbed a snack. Did you have any ideas for dinner tonight?” Logan asked. 

Virgil blinked in confusion but shook his head. “You, Roman, and Patton can fight it out. You know I’m not picky.”

“Yes, well, I’m not expecting either of them at this rate,” Logan sighed. “I personally don’t mind if you want to make separate meals, or just have one of us cook up something.”

Well this was weird. Virgil could feel his chest tighten as he took in what Logan said. Why weren’t Patton and Roman going to join them? Did he make a mistake by staying behind? Maybe he should go up and check on them-

“Virgil, deep breaths,” Logan instructed. “Everything is going to be okay. They’re just taking longer than I thought.”

“Should we go up and offer some advice?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I tried phoning into the conversation, new idea I had that I tried executing, but when their emotions are that high strung... well, you can imagine how that all played out.”

Virgil set down the granola and water bottle and opened up the fridge again. “I can make us some breakfast sandwiches if you want,” he offered. “I know you’re not a huge fan of breakfast for dinner, but-“

“It does not matter to me tonight,” Logan said, cutting him off. “Sorry, I’m just... you did the right thing staying behind tonight.”

“That bad, huh?” Virgil asked, pulling out the eggs, bacon, and cheese from the fridge. 

“Yes, but also, while I know you keep up a certain level of caution to keep Thomas safe, this was a conversation that I don’t think could’ve happened if he was even slightest bit nervous.”

Virgil set up the pan on the stove and began frying the bacon. “I peeked at Thomas’ emotional state for a minute earlier, so I get what you’re saying. Didn’t think he needed anxiety on top of everything else,” he chuckled. Logan hummed in agreement before letting the room fall quiet, the only sound coming from the crackling bacon in the pan. Virgil let himself get lost in his work, frying up some extra bacon to stick in the fridge in case Patton or Roman wanted some later. When it came to toasting the bread though, Virgil was running on auto pilot and managed to toast enough for three sandwiches before he caught himself. He cursed under his breath before turning his head towards the common area.

“Remus!” He shouted, startling Logan. “I’m making breakfast sandwiches, you want one?”

The Duke ran and skidded into the kitchen so fast Virgil barely had time to blink. “You do love me!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and flipped an egg with melted cheese onto a slice of bread before stacking bacon on it and adding the last slice of toast. “Wouldn’t go that far, but here.”

Remus snatched the sandwich, not even bothering to take the plate with him as he skipped back into the common area. “Thank you, emo!” 

Virgil sighed and finished assembling the other two sandwiches before sliding a plate to Logan. “Let me know if you want more bacon, I made extra.”

“This is fine, thank you, Virgil,” Logan said. The two of them ate in silence. Normally Patton and Roman drove the conversation, and as curious as Virgil was about what was happening in Thomas’ living room, he could tell Logan didn’t want to talk about it.

But something else felt off.

“Logan, are you feeling okay?” Virgil asked after a moment. Logan rolled his eyes at the question.

“You know I don’t deal with feelings.”

“Sorry,” Virgil mumbled. “Something just feels off.”

Logan finished off his sandwich and stood up, grabbing his empty plate. “I appreciate the concern. I’m sorry for acting like I don’t. It’s just been a long day.”

“I can get the dishes if you want to head back to your room,” Virgil offered.

“No, don’t you dare touch them,” Logan said. “Patton or Roman can do them when they get back. You made dinner and I’ve done enough for them for tonight. They can figure it out.”

With that, Logan left his plate in the sink and headed back to his room. Virgil only had a few bites left, but his appetite was long gone. As much as Logan talked about not dealing with emotions, he had seemed uncharacteristically harsh when referring to the other two. Virgil set the empty plate in the sink and took the last bit of his sandwich out to Remus.

“You want it?” Virgil offered.

“Oh yes, I’d love some sloppy seconds from you, Virgil,” Remus purred, taking the half eaten sandwich. Virgil gagged and left the common area, purposefully avoiding looking at the ceiling on his way back to his room. He didn’t leave his room for the rest of the night. Instead he just wondered when Roman and Patton would be back.

*******

The emotions swirling around in the mind palace were near suffocating. Virgil hadn’t left his room in a few days. He was too busy focusing on keeping his own feelings in check. The last thing he wanted was to send Thomas into a panic attack. Part of Virgil wanted to get out of bed and figure out who was having issues this soon after talking to Thomas. The other part couldn’t find the energy to get out of bed. 

He didn’t have much of a choice though. When the suffocating negativity was suddenly gone from the mind palace, Virgil knew Thomas was calling them up. He could feel the pit in his stomach. He clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking, and he started to count his breathing as he forced himself out of bed. The last thing he wanted was for Thomas to suddenly freak out and accidentally summon him while he was still in his pajamas. As Virgil was changing, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself calming down, and if he was calming down, then that meant Thomas was calming down. He pulled on his jacket and touched up his eyeliner since he suddenly had extra time. Right as he set the pencil down though, he felt a sudden jolt and he was all of a sudden-

He appeared in Thomas’ living room in his normal spot by the stairs. Thomas was busy trying to jump in while Patton and Roman went back and forth so he didn’t notice Virgil’s sudden appearance. Virgil looked over to Logan for answers when his blood ran cold.

Standing next to Logan was Deceit. The snake didn’t seem to pay any attention to Virgil, instead keeping his focus trained on Thomas’ back as he watched how he handled the on going argument. 

“What is he doing here?” Virgil hissed, staring at Logan. His voice caught the attention of the rest of the group though, shutting up Patton and Roman. Patton beamed and waved at him while Roman gave him a look relief that Virgil didn’t quite understand. Thomas spun around to face Virgil.

“Virgil! Hey buddy, how’s it been?” Thomas asked, his voice pitched slightly higher than normal.

“Don’t dodge the question, what is he doing here?” Virgil repeated. Deceit grinned but remained silent, which drove Virgil crazy. Any other time, the self proclaimed Lord of Lies was quick to throw fake compliments his way, but today he was uncharacteristically silent. Logan held his tongue as well, keeping his eyes focused on the two sides that had been arguing. 

“Virgil, I’m glad you’re here,” Roman said, allowing himself to smile at the purple clad side. “I’ve been trying to explain to them why he shouldn’t be here, but-“

“But what? But nothing,” Virgil snapped. Thomas winced at the harsh tone, but Virgil didn’t care at that moment. “Thomas, please tell me you’re not falling for his whole ‘hear me out’ schtick again. The courtroom was more than enough for a lifetime of him.”

“Verge, I-“

“No, Thomas, no more excuses,” Virgil said, cutting him off. “He’s a liar. From what I’ve seen, he seems to have Patton and Roman at each other’s throats! I cannot stress this enough- you can not trust him, Thomas. You literally know him as Deceit.”

“Um, Janus, actually,” Deceit chimed in. Virgil did a double take at stared at the snake man. Virgil knew Deceit’s name for awhile, but ever since joining Logan, Roman, and Patton, Deceit just seemed to fit him better. No one else knew his name besides Remus. Deceit had been very clear that he didn’t want the others getting ahold of his name. To suddenly drop it out of the blue-

No. Virgil looked around to the rest of the sides and Thomas. None of them seemed surprised to hear Deceit’s name. Thomas looked guilty, but not shocked. He had heard Deceit’s name before.

“When.”

Thomas stared at Virgil, confused. “When what?”

“When did he tell you his name?” Virgil asked.

Thomas rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet. “Janus told us a few days ago, the night after the wedding.”

Now Virgil was the confused one. “But you weren’t scared. You’re always scared when he’s here, I would’ve felt it if he was here.”

Roman was the next one to speak up. “Thomas gave him a seat at the metaphorical table.”

Oh. Okay. Despite all of Virgil’s warnings, despite Janus going by Deceit for so long, and despite everyone else calling Janus one of the ‘dark sides’ Thomas still gave him a spot in the regular group.

And no one told Virgil.

“You all knew?” Virgil asked, taking the time to let his eyes hit every other side. 

Logan and Patton nodded while Roman scoffed. “I tried to warn Thomas against it since you weren’t here to talk some sense into him.”

Virgil nodded and clapped his hands together. He didn’t miss the look Jan-  Deceit gave him. The fact that Virgil couldn’t read Deceit’s expressions was enough to scare him away from confronting the side. 

“Got it. Cool, cool, cool. Well, Thomas, let me know when you realize the mistake you’ve made.”

“Virgil, I appreciate the concern, but I don’t think I’ve made a mistake,” Thomas said, his voice soft spoken as if he were trying to console Virgil. 

“Hm,” Virgil hummed before sinking back down without another word. He ended back up in the common area, where Remus had set up a target on the ceiling to throw shurikens at. The Duke paused when Virgil showed up, but offered him a shuriken. 

“Want a throw?”

As much as Virgil wanted to be alone, away from everyone, he also had a strong desire to break something. So he wordlessly accepted the shuriken from Remus, took aim, and threw it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn’t planning on adding any more chapters to this. I planned on doing a series of one-shots, but when I wrote this I realized that it felt more like a second chapter rather than another one-shot. I kind of have an idea on where I want this to go, so we’ll see what happens! Hope y’all enjoy whatever this turns in to.

The door to Virgil’s room slammed open causing the anxious side to jump - slash - fall off of his bed. In the doorway stood a very pissed off Roman staring directly at Virgil. 

“What the heck man!” Roman snapped, closing the door behind him.

Virgil blinked and picked himself up off of the floor. “Well hello to you too.”

“You just left me back there!” Roman continued. “I thought you had come to help convince Thomas to kick Deceit out, but you just left after barely saying anything!”

“I’ve given Thomas plenty of warnings. If he wants to ignore them, there’s not much else I can do,” Virgil sighed. “He’s not scared of Deceit anymore, so I don’t have much of an influence anymore regarding Thomas’ opinion on him.”

“Still, you could’ve stayed. Everyone there seems fine with having a snake in the garden, but I’m not falling for his tricks again,” Roman grumbled. 

“Huh. It’s weird being on this side of things.”

Roman raised an eyebrow at Virgil’s comment in confusion. “What do you mean ‘this side of things’?”

Virgil shrugged and sat back down on his bed. “I just remember what it was like when I first started showing up. None of you really wanted me there at first, and now I’m the one you’re complaining to about Deceit. It’s just weird.”

“Are you saying I’m in the wrong here?”

“God, no!” Virgil scoffed. “I’ve known Janus for way longer and I’ve never really trusted him, even before I joined you guys. He acts like he has some hidden agenda and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“So...” Roman hesitated. “I-is Janus his real name?”

“Yeah, as far as Remus and I know.” Virgil ignored Roman’s flinch at the name of his twin.One issue at a time, and between the two, he deemed Deceit more of a threat at the moment. “Why?”

“Remember when you opened up and told us your name?”

That took Virgil back. He remembered being so stressed over it, but now all he could do was laugh. “Yeah, I basically shouted it to you guys, Patton said it didn’t have the same ending as the rest of your names, said the word ‘virgin’ and then you turned into a giggling mess.”

Roman let his gaze fall to the floor, making him look guilty of something. “Well... something similar happened the night after the wedding.”

Virgil was lost. “... Patton called Janus a virgin?”

“No!” Roman quickly corrected. “I uh, laughed. I laughed at Deceit’s name and called it stupid.”

Virgil winced, causing Roman to only look guiltier. “Yikes. That’s harsh even for you.”

“He’s evil!” Roman argued. “I assumed he was lying! He lies about everything! Besides, I’d argue what he said afterwards was worse.”

Virgil could already imagine how it went down. Deceit’s insults normally weren’t too bad, just a lot of sarcasm and endless teasing. He only cut deep when he himself felt attacked, and knowing Roman’s sensitivities and the incident before the wedding-

“What’d he do, compare you to Remus?” Virgil asked. Roman didn’t respond, but that was all the answer Virgil needed. “Figured. You wanna talk about it?”

Roman has been standing the whole time, but he looked so defeated and exhausted that it didn’t surprise Virgil when the prince slid down the door to sit on the floor. “What’s there to talk about? Thomas and Patton didn’t deny what that snake said.”

“To be fair, you insulted Janus first.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh, so now you’re defending him too?”

Virgil scoffed. “I wasn’t there, but I’ve know Janus longer than any of you. Self preservation is his thing. Patton distracts people with happier things when he feels overwhelmed, Logan starts shouting when he feels like no one is listening to him-“

“What does this have to do with the serpent?” Roman asked, cutting Virgil off. 

“We all have defense mechanisms. Janus lashes out, tries to make others feel worse so he can feel better by comparison. It hurts, I’m not gonna lie,” Virgil sighed. “The issue here is Remus and I have had years to get to know Janus and how he works. You guys are seeing a new side to him that you didn’t know existed, you have every right to be scared and not trust him, but insulting him right off the bat is only going to make things worse in the long run.”

“Sounds like you’re defending him,” Roman mumbled.

“Oh my gosh,” Virgil groaned. “Weren’t you the one who called me close minded when I disagreed with Deceit just because I said I didn’t like him?”

“I’m just saying it sounds like you’re okay with him giving Thomas advice! You left yesterday because he was there and now you’re defending him, what gives?”

“I’m not mad that Janus has a spot now! I was mad that no one told me! I got scared and left!” Virgil snapped. “We talked about defense mechanisms? Fight or flight here, and I didn’t feel like fighting with everyone there while the emotions were so high!”

Roman looked more and more confused with every word Virgil said. He was trying to hard to help Princey work through whatever he was feeling, but it was like pulling teeth. “So you trust him with Thomas?”

Virgil sighed. “It’s complicated. Before? No, not at all. He’d always come in disguised as someone else and trick everyone. We couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what his goals were and that’s dangerous.” He paused, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “But he told you his name. Only Remus and me knew before because he was scared of how everyone else would react, and then when I joined you guys, well that just hurt his trust in others even more.”

Roman stayed quiet, so Virgil kept talking. “If he was willing to open up and tell you his name... then yeah, I trust him to occasionally give Thomas advice. Trust is a two way street, and he trusted you guys with something very personal to him.”

“So...” Roman trailed off. “I’m in the wrong here?”

“Yes and no. You both said some pretty nasty shit to each other,” Virgil shrugged. “You two barely know each other. Sure, you’ve interacted in the past, but you don’t know how each other works. You both like to throw around insults, have insecurities, and, like all of us, want what’s best for Thomas.” 

Pointing out what Roman and Deceit had in common brought a look of disgust to the prince’s face. If everyone managed to at least tolerate each other, then Virgil’s anxiety would decrease by a lot. He needed this conversation to go well.

“Listen,” Virgil sighed. “You want to hear that you were completely in the right and Janus was completely in the wrong. You’re looking at this situation like it’s black and white. But Roman, you’re smarter than that. Remember, you once considered me a ‘dark side’ and now you’re in my room of your own free will asking for my help with a situation.”

That seemed to spark something in him. Roman’s eyes widened like he had finally understood where Virgil had been trying to lead the conversation this whole time.

“If I don’t give Deceit a chance to be better and just keep insulting him, he’ll keep lashing out.”

“Yep.”

“And if he keeps lashing out while Thomas is willing to listen to him, it’ll make Thomas lash out and make him evil!”

Virgil frowned. “...yes?”

“But if I give Deceit a chance, he won’t lash out, he’ll improve as a side, and when Thomas goes to him for advice, he won’t get bad advice and be evil!” Roman declared, jumping up off of the floor.

“Uh...” Virgil dragged out. “I think? Honestly you lost me half way through, but I think you said you’re gonna give Janus a chance?”

“To put it simply, yes!” Roman nodded. “Oh, but where to start? After I insulted his name, he probably doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“You know something Remus doesn’t do?” Virgil asked. “Apologize. You said he compared you to your twin. Go apologize for making fun of his name and show him that you and Remus are different.”

“That’s... good advice, thank you Virgil. I’ll go look for him right now!” Roman reaches for the door but paused. “Why do you want me to play nice with Deceit? I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I don’t,” Virgil confirmed. “But that’s something that goes so far back it’s not gonna be fixed in one day. Right now, all this stress with the infighting isn’t helping with my anxiety. I’ll deal with Janus when I’m in a better headspace.”

“Smart,” Roman said, clicking his tongue. “Well, wish me luck in facing the serpent.”

“Might wanna try using his name if you want the conversation to go somewhat okay,” Virgil suggested.

“Good call.”

Roman left and shut the door behind him. Virgil sighed and let his head fall back to hit the bed. He was honestly surprised he managed to convince Roman to go and talk to Janus. It took up all of his energy, but he could already feel the negativity in the mind palace lessen, so it had defiantly been worth it, but now it was time for a nap.

So what if it was only 2 pm.


	3. Chapter 3

As much as he wanted to, Virgil knew he couldn’t hide away in his room forever. The vast majority of the negativity that plagued the mind palace before was gone, he assumed thanks to Roman and Janus discussing the issues they had with each other, so there was no real reason to stay locked up anymore. Sure there was still a twinge of unease and tension, but it wasn’t as suffocating as before. Maybe interacting with the others would even help ease that.

Virgil dragged himself out of bed and left to see if anyone else was wandering about. It was oddly quiet for once. On a normal day, the sound of some random cartoon or The Office bloopers would be coming from the tv in the common area, or there’d be shouts over if someone’s cheating or not in whatever board game Patton pulled out. There was no Disney music blasting from a certain side’s phone, and there was no mindless chatter. The quiet felt strange, so Virgil put in his earbuds and started scrolling through tumblr as he walked down the hall. 

With how quiet the place was, it wasn’t surprising to see Logan sitting in the common area reading. Virgil gave him a head nod as he walked past, but Logan waved at him to take out his earbuds. 

“What’s up?” Virgil asked, pausing his playlist. 

Logan closed the book he was reading and stood up. “Virgil, I wanted to apologize for the other day. While I was not one hundred percent sure on Janus’ new position in the group, I should have thought ahead and told you he had been present.”

“Oh,” Virgil said, surprised by the sudden apology. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I knew you left before Roman and Patton, so I just assumed you didn’t know he showed up.”

“Oh no, on the contrary, I was the one who asked Janus to jump in,” Logan corrected. 

Now that was news to Virgil. “What?”

“Patton was struggling to convey his thoughts effectively about his stance on different moral dilemmas and asked me if I could provide any philosophers to help back him up. When I began to explain how Friedrich Nietzsche wouldn’t have agreed with any of his points, Patton essentially hung up on me, so I called Janus and asked him to fill in since Patton clearly didn’t want to hear from me,” Logan explained.

“But why Deceit?” Virgil asked. “Why didn’t you call me?” He tried to hide how much it hurt that Logan had reached out to Janus rather than him, but the look of pity he received from Logan proved he had failed.

“Virgil, why don’t you sit down so we can talk about this-“

“No, just answer my question please,” Virgil said, cutting Logan off. “I just want to know why you trusted Deceit to handle that situation more than you trusted me.”

“You remember how Thomas was feeling that night,” Logan reminded him. “You agreed with me when I said it was for the best that anxiety hadn’t been present for that discussion. You protect Thomas from physical threats, but Janus is Thomas’ self preservation. I could see how off the rails the conversation had gone, and knew someone needed to be there to make sure things didn’t go to far.”

“So you trusted Deceit?”

“I trusted he would do his job as Thomas’ self preservation and help him through the mental anguish Patton was putting him through. Me reaching out to Janus for help was not me saying I trust him more than you,” Logan explained. “Honestly, in the long run I’d trust you over Janus any day. Your reactions to things are, for the most part, far more predictable.”

Virgil couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. “Is that a good thing?” 

Logan adjusted his glasses and nodded. “In my opinion, yes. The situation after the wedding was intense and I couldn’t tell how far Patton and Roman were going to take it. Knowing you, I guessed that you would freeze if it went too far, so I needed someone who could be a little more flexible in tense situations. That, and I knew someone was going to have to snap at Patton. You cannot honestly tell me that you would be willing to tell Patton he was in the wrong.”

“I... yeah no, you got me there,” Virgil agreed. It was weird hearing how Patton was in the wrong. If he had been there, he might’ve blindly taken Patton side without giving it too much thought. All of the sides trusted Patton and relied on him to steer them in the right direction. Even if his actions were hurting Thomas, Virgil couldn’t see himself telling the father figure if the group he was wrong.

“Would I have froze?” Virgil asked. “I literally know next to nothing about what happened that night.”

Logan gestured towards the seats behind him. Virgil sighed and took a spot on the couch while Logan sat back down in the recliner. How his little nod turned into a full on sit down conversation, Virgil had no idea.

“I think you would’ve either froze or fought by saying something you’d later regret,” Logan explained. He spoke slowly, carefully choosing how to word himself. “You are familiar with the trolley problem, correct?”

“Oh.”

“I believe you would’ve froze in that moment,” Logan said. “Patton argued not switching tracks when it was first brought up.”

“It was brought up more than once?” Virgil asked. 

Logan nodded. “The question of whether or not Patton would go as far as to say Thomas should give up his life for another’s was brought up. Keep in mind, I was gone at this point. Well, I was still listening in, but Janus was acting for me. He jumped in when Patton asked Thomas if he would give up his life for Lee and Mary Lee’s.”

Just the thought of being there spiked Virgil’s anxiety. Logan was right, he wouldn’t have been helpful in that instance. Hell, if he was there Thomas’ might’ve had a full blown panic attack and then he wouldn’t have gotten the help from Janus that he needed in that moment! Virgil had been trying so hard to not be a hinderance to Thomas for awhile now, but if he freaked out at the wrong time, it could prevent Thomas from working through his issues and-

“Virgil, breathe in for four seconds,” Logan said. 

Virgil opened his eyes. He didn’t even realize the were closed before. He stared at Logan as he took a shaky breath in. 

“Hold it for seven seconds.”

Even though Virgil knew the exercise inside and out, he was thankful Logan was there to walk him through it. He hadn’t realized his thoughts started spiraling. He had been doing such a good job at keeping himself calm recently. 

“Now out for eight seconds,” Logan instructed.

Virgil released the air he was holding in slowly. He tried to focus on what he could feel and noticed his hands had tightened up into fists. As he exhaled, he stretched out his fingers to keep them from getting stiff. Once the right seconds was up, Virgil took one last breath to steady himself.

“Thank you, Logan,” he whispered. It had been awhile since he last got that bad in front of one of the others.

“Don’t mention it,” he waved off. “I’m not going to say I told you so, but this is why I didn’t ask for your help that night.”

“I know,” Virgil sighed. “I’m sorry, I thought I was getting better at handling myself-“

“I’m going to stop you before you widely misinterpret what I mean by that,” Logan said, cutting him off. “I didn’t ask for your help because I didn’t want to bring you into that situation. It was intense, highly emotional, and scary. It wouldn’t have been fair to you for me to ask for your help. That doesn’t mean you need to apologize for how you react, it just means I care enough not to purposefully drag you into a sticky situation where I know you’d suffer.”

Hearing Logan casually admit that he cares was new. Just the other day he refuted Virgil’s question of ‘How are you feeling’ with a quick note about how he doesn’t deal with feelings. Honestly, Virgil was speechless. 

“I, um,” Virgil coughed into his fist. “Thank you, Logan. It uh, it means a lot to hear that you care. I’m glad Thomas has you to help make calls that the rest of us wouldn’t think of. I can’t think of anyone, well anyone besides Remus, who’d think of calling in Deceit to help.” 

“I take it you’re no longer mad then?” Logan asked.

“Not with you, no,” Virgil said, shaking his head. “Trust me though, I’m making my rounds. I’ve already talked to Roman, and I understand why you didn’t get me involved, but I still want to meet up with the others. I figured at least Patton would’ve talked to me afterwards about it, and I have some shit I have to sort out with Janus now that’s he’s part of the group.”

“I would recommend tabling those conversations for another time,” Logan suggested. “While it’s a good thing to openly talk through ones issues with another, I’d say that this particular conversation was a bit more intense than you were expecting. Take time to recharge before you tackle another one.”

“Don’t worry, I already told Roman I was waiting to confront Janus,” Virgil chuckled weakly. “Yeah, after this, I’m thinking a quick snack and some mindless tv for now.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t exactly a glare, but it was close. “I swear, if you put on The Office bloopers-“

“Come on, that fifteen and a half number has to be bothering you!” Virgil laughed, standing up to go into the kitchen. “Let’s make it an even sixteen and call it a day!”

Apparently bringing up that the watch number wasn’t even was enough to win Logan over. He shut his mouth before grabbing the remote and leaning back into the recliner. 

“Would you mind getting me some of the cucumber slices from the fridge?” Logan asked as he turned on the tv and pulled up the half watched The Office bloopers.

“Sure thing, bud.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I officially know where I’m going with this! Only took three chapters for me to decide on the trajectory of the fic, but hey better late than never. Still don’t know how many chapters this’ll be though! 
> 
> Like always thank you for taking the time to read!


	4. Chapter 4

Logan had long since left, wanting to get ahead on Thomas’ next project since the last video took so long to get out. Virgil tried joking how no one could’ve predicted the pandemic that was happening, but instead of laughter, he received a lecture from Logan how the United States could’ve taken precautions sooner. The lecture took thirty minutes.

Virgil wasn’t exactly sure what to do with his time so he settled on letting Parks and Rec play in the background while he occasionally zoned out. He couldn’t stop thinking about how he was going to approach Patton about the night after the wedding. He didn’t want to hurt his feelings, or for Patton to think he was attacking him, but he also didn’t want to pretend like he was fine and let his feeling stew. If he didn’t confront Patton about his issues, he risked letting the negativity grow which could eventually lead to him snapping at someone who didn’t deserve it. That wasn’t okay.

Something suddenly whizzed past Virgil’s ear, causing him to jump. There was a familiar thud as the object embedded itself into the wall just next to the tv. It had only been an inch or so off from hitting the screen. 

Virgil shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “What in the absolute fuck was that for, Remus?” 

The Duke skipped in front of the tv to remove his shuriken from the wall. “You normally don’t ask what I’m up to,” he hummed, turning to face Virgil. “But since you did ask, the target I set up on the ceiling has so many holes in it that none of the stars stick anymore, so I said fuck it, I’ll throw one randomly and see where it lands!”

“You almost hit me,” Virgil deadpanned. 

“But I didn’t,” Remus said, grinning widely. 

“Why don’t you just fix the holes in the ceiling?” Virgil asked. If Remus has a task to focus on, that’d most likely keep him occupied and keep the back of Virgil’s head safe from random throwing stars.

Remus glanced up where he had set up a target a few days ago. “I could patch up the holes... oh!” He snapped the shuriken away clapped his hands together. “I have some super glue and a jar of assorted teeth I’m not doing anything with-“

“You know what, never mind,” Virgil cut him off. “Forget I said anything. Why don’t you go bother Janus or literally anyone else besides me?”

“Ooo finally getting to say the J-word now!” 

Virgil rolled his eyes and muted the tv. “Yeah, didn’t you hear? He told Thomas and everyone else a few days ago.”

“Oh, I knew that, he told me right after the whole fiasco,” Remus said, waving Virgil off. “A little bitch told me that you were the one who was late to the party.”

Virgil furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “You mean a little birdy told you?”

“Did I stutter?” 

“For your info, I wasn’t late to the name reveal party, genius,” Virgil snapped. “Did you forget that we knew before anyone else?”

“Oh sorry, forgive me for the miscommunication,” Remus apologized, bowing dramatically. “I meant late to knowing J-anus joined your little merry band of losers!”

“You knows it’s pronounced Jan-us.”

“I also know a misdirect when I hear one,” the Duke smirked. “Did you forget who my brother is?”

“Wow, I wasn’t aware that you paid enough attention to know Roman deflects. Thought you two hated each other.”

“Ugh, he’s just so boring!” Remus groaned. “I understand different strokes for different folks but come on! Spice it up a bit!

“You should go talk to him and try and convince him to add some of that... spice to his ideas,” Virgil suggested, hesitating half way through. He wanted Remus to leave him alone, but he didn’t exactly want to sick him on Princey. Roman was already going through enough coming to terms with Janus. The last thing he needed was his brother kicking down his door and yelling about whatever that soy sauce trend was.

“And you should really come to terms with the fact that isolating yourself doesn’t help anything and if you keep hiding away you’re not going to fit in anywhere,” Remus said, smiling calmly. There was a look in his eyes that Virgil didn’t trust, but he chose to focus on that rather than the words he just said.

“And how does how I chose to spend my free effect you in any way?” Virgil asked slowly. He was trying really hard not to lash out at the Duke. He knew intrusive thoughts had no filter. Virgil had spent years hearing whatever popped out of Remus’ mouth. Most of the time it was nonsensical, disturbing imagery, but occasionally he managed to cut deep by attacking whatever insecurity showed itself during a conversation.

“Oh, it doesn’t affect me,” Remus scoffed. “But you know who it does affect? Thomas.”

“You’re losing me, Dukey.”

“Listen,” Remus said, his voice suddenly serious. His smile faded as he crossed his arms over his chest, staring intensely at Virgil the entire time. “Before, everything was even. Three vs. three. You’re the one who decided to rock the boat and switch over.”

“Can you blame me?” Virgil rolled his eyes. “Between your disgusting drivel and Deceit twisting his words and making me question everything, you can’t really fault me for wanting to skip out on you guys.”

“So you found a place where the grass was greener and jumped the fence to the other side,” Remus sighed.

“Don’t quote Dear Evan Hansen at me, you’re not Roman.”

“My point is you left us, thinking the others would treat you better, and yet they excluded you from their group info that night. You claim to be on their side now, but do they see you as one of them? You already made it clear that you didn’t want to be in mine and Janus’ little powwow anymore, so if you don’t want to belong with us, and they don’t want you to belong with them,” Remus said, pausing as he spoke. “Then tell me where exactly do you belong?”

“You know, if you had timed this chat a little better, I might’ve actually bought what you were trying to sell me,” Virgil admitted. “But unfortunately for you, I just got confirmation from Logan, Mr. No Feelings himself, that he cares. Also, Roman came to me for help the other day, showing that he trusts me. The only person I have spoken to out of them is Patton and that’s only because I’m waiting until I’m in a better headspace before I charge into that emotionally charade conversation. You can’t convince me that I made the wrong choice.”

“I’m not here to argue on whether or not your choice was right or wrong. I honestly couldn’t care less about that,” Remus scoffed. “Let me try a new approach- you rocked the boat when you switched sides, but the boat still managed to stay afloat.”

“And?”

Remus sighed. “Look, I barely give a shit about anyone, we all know this. I’m here to inspire Thomas to do shit he’d rather not do creatively. Snake boy is there to inspire Thomas to do shit he’d rather not do for himself. Janus and I, well we have an understanding. And now, he too is rocking the boat, but the waves are rough and I’m afraid that he’s not going to be able to keep it afloat. At least, not on his own.”

In all of the years Virgil had known Remus, he had never seen him get so serious over an issue. It was almost more frightening than the nightmare inducing thoughts the Duke normally threw out.

“It sounds like you want me to do something, but I’m gonna be honest, serious you is throwing me off,” Virgil admitted.

“You have experience keeping the boat afloat. I’m asking you to use that knowledge to help Janus from letting it sink,” Remus said. “I said Thomas thinking that I’m scary was a you problem before. Well, Thomas being hesitant to trust Janus completely is a Roman problem. I know my brother probably got to you first and asked you to help him shove Jay over the side, but-“

“I told Roman to apologize to Janus,” Virgil said, cutting Remus off. “They both said some harsh shit to each other, and when Roman came bitching to me, I told him he should still apologize.” 

Remus stared at him confused while Virgil sighed. “Look, I don’t fully trust Janus yet, but I plan on talking to him in the near future. Just because I don’t trust him though doesn’t mean I’m not willing to watch him try and be better. I’m not going to let Roman throw him off the boat without a valid reason. If Janus honestly wants his seat at the table, then I’ll give him a fair shot as long as he’s actually helping Thomas.”

“... you managed to convince my brother to apologize to someone?” Remus asked, dumbfounded by the idea.

Virgil laughed, not surprised that that was the detail Remus chose to focus on. “I just told him you’d never apologize so if he wants to show Janus he’s not the same as you, he better go say sorry for laughing at Janus’ name.”

“I mean fuck, you’re not wrong,” Remus hummed. 

“I’m uh,” Virgil hesitated, glancing around the room for a distraction. “I’m glad that you’re sticking up for someone else for once. Who knows, keep up that sort of growth and maybe you’ll get your own seat at the table some day.”

“HAH!” Remus laughed, doubling over. “You think I’d want a spot at your round table? All you losers do is dance on eggshells around each other and follow whatever rules Thomas decides to set for that day. I’m here to have a good time. The last thing I need is necktie and pussy sweater shutting me down and my little bitch of a brother at my throat every time I say something that wouldn’t make it past the PG sensors. No thank you.”

Virgil shrugged. “Just thought I’d throw the idea out there.”

“Well aren’t you sweet,” Remus cooed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a brother to hunt down. I like the idea you gave me of bullying him until he starts suggesting some juicier ideas to Thomas’ noggin.”

“I never told you to bully your brother!” Virgil shouted at the Duke as he skipped down the hall. Virgil couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Roman regarding whatever the Duke was about to tell him. 

Emphasis on the ‘a little’ part, though. Virgil also couldn’t help but feel content now that he was finally alone in the common room. He unmuted Parks and Rec and settled back into the couch, trying to keep his mind from wandering too far off this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is very important to me that y’all know that when Virgil asks Remus if he meant to say “little birdy,” I had originally typed out little birdy as Remus’ line, but my auto correct changed it to “little bitch” and it was 5 am and the funniest thing to me so it stayed in.
> 
> Also sorry if Remus seems a little out of character here. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve watched all of the Sanders Sides through twice in the last week just to focus on how each side acts in certain situations, but Remus is the one we know the least about and have seen the least of, so I did my best!


	5. Chapter 5

Virgil hadn’t meant to sleep in so late. He normally was one of the last sides to wake up, but 4:45 pm was late even for him. Between staying up watching Parks and Rec and how drained he felt after dealing with Roman, Logan, and Remus individually. Only two sides left for Virgil to deal with.

Just the thought of talking to either of them though made Virgil want to go back to sleep for a dozen or so years. He didn’t want to deal with Janus until he knew how Patton felt about Thomas letting the snake in, but Patton was who Virgil was the most anxious to talk to. Roman said Patton hadn’t defended him when Janus compared him Remus. Logan said Patton had taken the conversation so far that Thomas would’ve had a full blown panic attack if Virgil had been present. Clearly a lot had changed that night, and Virgil was scared to see if that change was for the better or the worse. 

Patton was the center of Thomas’ feelings. Virgil knew that the father figure wouldn’t dismiss his concerns. Logan helped him work through the logistics of why Janus needed to have a seat, and that all made sense, but just because facts added up didn’t mean that the feelings tied to an event just went away. If anyone was going to help Virgil work through how he felt about Janus, it would be Patton. The issue was some of the negative feelings Virgil had on the matter were directed at the moral side. Patton didn’t defend Roman from Janus’ insults. What if he told Virgil he was over reacting and took Janus’ side over him? What if Virgil was over reacting? He hadn’t been there that night. Sure, he got the run down from Logan, but that still didn’t give him the full picture. 

The more Virgil thought about it, the heavier the pit in his stomach felt. He was starting to feel nauseous and his arms shook as he tried to push himself up out of bed. The longer he avoided talking to Patton, the worse he would end up feeling. All of the uncertainties were causing him to overthink. At this point, a concrete, negative answer would be better than not knowing for sure one way or another.

Virgil forced himself to stand up, grabbed his jacket, and left his room. He shuffled down the hall. He stopped outside Patton’s room and knocked on the door before he could chicken out. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to push down how anxious he was. The last thing Virgil wanted to do was have a breakdown in front of guy.

No one responded though. Virgil opened his eyes and knocked again. “Patton?”

“I’m in here, kiddo!” Patton’s voice called from the kitchen. He sounded like he was in a good mood, but Virgil knew that could very much be a front. He dragged his feet on the way to the kitchen. The dad of the group was busy grabbing things out of the cabinets, prepping for dinner it looked like. 

“Hey Virgil!” Patton greeted, turning his neck to glance at him. “I’m just getting everything ready for tonight! Figured I’d make everyone spaghetti! It’s been awhile since we all sat down together and had a family meal.”

“Everyone?” Virgil asked. Before the wedding, Virgil could count on everyone being Patton, Logan, Roman, and himself, but now with Janus joining the regular group...

Patton hesitated, keeping his back to Virgil. “Yeah, you know, everyone. I know not everybody is on board with the new setup, and it’ll take some getting used to, but I figured tonight could be a start.”

“Hm,” Virgil hummed. He stuck his hands into his jacket pockets and kicked the toe of his shoe against the floor. “Does Roman know?”

“Not yet,” Patton admitted. “I was gonna tell him while waiting for the water to boil.”

“And when were you going to tell me? Or were you just planning on letting me walk in here at dinner time and see Janus sitting with everyone?”

Patton winced and Virgil felt bad for being so harsh, but he needed to let Patton know he was upset. 

Patton finally turned around to face Virgil. He looked guilty, but Virgil knew he couldn’t back down now. Logan told him yesterday that he didn’t think Virgil would’ve been able to stand up to the group dad. This was something Virgil knew he had to work on. Patton has hurt Thomas, had hurt Virgil, and he needed to know that.

“Kiddo, I-“

“I want to know why you didn’t tell me Thomas let Janus have a seat at the table,” Virgil said. His voice was surprisingly steady. He could do this.

“I don’t have a good excuse,” Patton admitted. “I figured after Logan left, he’d fill you in. When I found out he didn’t tell you, I tried asking Roman, but he wasn’t talking to me. By the time I got around to asking Janus if he or Remus said anything to you, it had already been a few days. I got scared that if I told you so late after the event, that you’d think I was hiding things from you.”

“So you waited until I found out on my own? Which took even longer?”

“...yes.”

“I told Roman the other day that I’m not mad that Thomas gave Janus a seat,” Virgil sighed. That caught Patton’s attention, bringing a little smile to the dad. 

“Really?” He asked. “I’m glad to hear that, kiddo!”

“I’m not mad that Janus has a seat,” Virgil repeated. “I’m mad that none of you guys told me.” That clarification killed off Patton’s smile real quick. “I hate surprises, so seeing Deceit up there with you all while you and Roman were fighting? That scared me. And then he tells me that you all know his name? That you’ve known for several days?”

Virgil sighed. “Janus and I don’t get along, you know that. I get if you were trying to protect me, but keeping me in the dark like that... I don’t know, I just assumed you guys didn’t care enough to let me know.”

“Virgil,” Patton said, his voice soft. “You know we love you. I’m so sorry that we- that I made you feel that way. I was scared that you’d leave us if you found out about Janus, but that doesn’t excuse me withholding information from you, kiddo.”

Virgil kept his head down, his eyes staring at his feet. “I know you care, I’m sorry. I freaked out, I know you wouldn’t purposefully do anything to hurt me.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Patton said. Virgil glanced up to see the other side smiling warmly at him. “It doesn’t matter what my excuses are. If what I did hurt you, it hurt you. Your feelings are valid, and not something you should apologize for.”

Virgil nodded awkwardly. The whole thing had gone a lot better than he had expected. The pit in his stomach was gone and his held felt clearer. “You said you’re making spaghetti for tonight?”

“Yep! I know it’s a favorite, so I figured it’d be the best way to get everyone to the table!”

“Make sure you let Roman know. What time are we sitting down?” Virgil asked.

“I’m hoping for 6 pm if I can get everything done,” Patton said.

“I’d offer to help, but if we’re all going to sit down together tonight, I gotta go talk to Janus about somethings,” Virgil explained, taking a step back. “I can go fetch Roman for you? He can help you get everything ready and you can tell him that Janus will be joining us.”

“That’d be great, thanks kiddo!” Patton beamed. “And Virgil,” he said, his tone shifting to be a little more serious. “I know you aren’t the biggest fan of Janus, but just keep in mind that he’s trying. And we should return the favor.”

Virgil nodded. He knew better than anyone what it meant for Janus to reveal his name to everyone. That was the biggest thing he could’ve done to change Virgil’s opinion on him, and while he still wasn’t fond of the side, it wouldn’t be fair of Virgil to ignore Janus’ growth. 

“Don’t worry, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went through two rewrites. I don’t know why Patton was so hard for me to write, but it’s done now and that’s all that matters.
> 
> I think we’re nearing the end here. I’m thinking 3 chapters left? Depending on how it ends I might make it a series and do more parts, but I’m not making any promises on that just yet. Just an idea I had. Let me know if that’s something y’all would be interested in.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I’m gonna say is this didn’t play out how I expected it to.

“Roman, I volunteered you to help Patton with dinner!” Virgil called through the door, knocking a few times for good measure. He could hear Princey pause whatever he was doing and head towards the door. Virgil took a step back as the door flew open.

“And why, pray tell, would you do that?” Roman asked, clearly not happy about the arrangement. 

“What, don’t want to help dad out?” Virgil teased. “I said I would’ve given him a hand, but I have other shit I have to deal with before dinner.”

“I assumed family dinners were on hold since a certain serpent joined our ranks.”

“And I thought you went and talked your issues out like I suggested.”

Roman rolled his eyes and leaned on the door frame. “You try having a straight conversation with that slimy beast.”

“I imagine trying anything straight would be difficult for you,” Virgil chuckled. “Or for any of us really.”

“Now is not the time for jokes, Virgil,” Roman groaned dramatically. “I can’t trust Deceit, and I’m still not over the fact that Patton didn’t defend my honor that night. And now you expect me to sit down and play nice over family dinner with them?”

Virgil shrugged. “I just got done talking to Patton about my feelings regarding the whole Janus situation. It went better than I expected. Why don’t you go help him get dinner ready and talk to him? You know Pat’s not a bad guy.”

“No, he just thinks I’m a bad guy,” Roman grumbled.

“Do you really believe that?” Virgil asked. 

The prince sighed and ran his hand down his face. “No,” he admitted. “It just hurt, you know?”

“I know,” Virgil said. He stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on Roman’s shoulder. “But I also know that Patton still loves you. If you’re just honest with him about how you’re feeling, you know he’ll listen. And trust me, he’s much easier to talk to than Janus.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go talk to him. What do you have to deal with though?” Roman asked.

Virgil glanced down the hallway towards the room he had been avoiding for awhile now. “I have to go settle some shit with the snake.”

******

“He’s not in there ya know!” 

Virgil spun around to find Remus peaking his head out of his own room. Virgil glanced back to Janus’ door and then back to the Duke.

“Well where is he?”

“Probably the auditorium if I had to guess. He’s been spending a lot of time in there,” Remus shrugged.

“Thanks,” Virgil sighed. He didn’t really feel like chasing Janus down, so he was hoping Remus’ info was good. “Patton’s making spaghetti tonight.”

The Duke rolled his eyes. “Round table, dinner table, doesn’t matter- I don’t want a seat. Only thing I’m interested in sitting on is-“

“I meant there’ll be leftovers in the fridge later tonight.”

“Oh well in that case thanks for the heads up, Panic Prone!”

“I’m actually okay with that reference,” Virgil smirked.

******

Virgil’s footsteps echoed in the auditorium as he crossed the stage. Sure enough, Janus was sitting at the edge of the stage, a familiar tune playing from his phone next to him. He seemed to be humming along, not paying Virgil any mind.

“Meant to be Yours?” Virgil asked. Janus chuckled and turned his head to face him.

“One of Thomas’ best roles if you ask me. Ich luge bullets? Hilarious.”

“You would find a guy lying to a girl about killing two people funny,” Virgil scoffed.

“I think it’s Veronica’s fault for not learning German,” Janus shrugged. “JD told her he was lying upfront. She’s the one who didn’t ask any follow up questions when the guy started speaking a language she didn’t understand.”

“Okay, stop, I didn’t come here to talk Heathers to you,” Virgil said, shaking his head. 

“Oh?” Janus hummed. He paused the music and stood up, adjusting the cloak at his shoulders. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“Right, I forgot I know how to read minds, thanks for the reminder,” Janus said rolling his eyes. “Is this about dinner? I told Patton he should put it to a vote instead of just deciding on spaghetti.”

“You told them your name,” Virgil hissed between his teeth. 

“And so did you,” Janus countered. “And Remus. Roman and Patton too if I’m remembering correctly. Only one who didn’t get to reveal their own name was Logan, but he didn’t seem to mind-“

“Stop!” Virgil snapped. “Stop trying to drag this everywhere! I came here to say my piece, that’s it.”

Janus smirked and gestured to the empty hall. “The stage is yours, Virgil. Don’t choke in the spotlight.”

“Why now?” Virgil asked, trying to ignore the teasing. “Why are you suddenly on Thomas’ side? What changed?”

“I’ve always been on Thomas’ side, nothing changed there.”

“Liar,” Virgil hissed. 

Janus cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Liar? Tell me this, Virgil. Remember when you first started showing up to Thomas and the other’s little group meetings? Back before you revealed your name, what was your role back then?”

Virgil blinked, unsure where Janus was taking this. “I was there to scare him mainly. I showed up when I was unwanted, got his blood pumping, and made him worry about shit that probably wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it out to be.”

“Were you trying to actively harm Thomas by doing those things?”

“What? No! He was taking so many new risks, I wanted him to stop putting himself out there as much! He was dealing with so many strangers on the internet and traveling to meet them- what if something went wrong? I was trying to protect him,” Virgil argued.

“Okay,” Janus nodded. “And what would you say your role is now?”

“I’m still his anxiety. What are these clarifications for, you know me!”

“Would you say you’re still trying to protect Thomas?” Janus asked, ignoring Virgil’s outburst.

“Yes! What does this have to do with my question?” Virgil groaned. He hadn’t even been there for ten minutes and he was already losing his mind just trying to have a simple conversation with the snake.

“I said I was always on Thomas’ side. You’re the one who called me a liar, so I figured I’d use you an an example.” Janus crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “You yourself said that you were trying to protect Thomas before he accepted you. The only change between then and now is how Thomas and the others treat you. Your job hasn’t changed, just Thomas’ reaction to your job.”

Janus shrugged and looked out into the hall, staring at the empty seats. “I wanted Thomas to lie to Joan to minimize the risk of Joan getting angry at Thomas. If Joan was mad enough, Thomas could’ve lost a dear friend that day, and that would’ve been horrible for his mental health.”

He turned back to face Virgil, a hard, determined look in his eyes. Virgil had to fight the urge to flinch. “I have always been on Thomas’ side. The only difference now is Thomas’ reaction to my presence. You left to make the others realize that they needed you to keep Thomas safe? I had to jump in to protect Thomas from Mr. Goody-two-shoes himself.”

Virgil was at a loss for words. He figured he’d march on in, tell Janus off a bit, get an idea on where he stood now, and then play nice at dinner for Patton’s sake. This... this was not how he saw this conversation going.

Janus sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I get it, I do. The others got to warm up to you gradually so when Thomas accepted you as a necessary side, they all were on board. I had to force my way in and point out the others flaws to get Thomas to listen to me. There was no warning up to the idea being around. Thomas’ mental health had gotten so bad, it was either accept me or suffer even more. The situation wasn’t... ideal. But I had always been on Thomas’ side.”

“Then why disguise yourself as the others?” Virgil asked, trying to regain control of the conversation.

“Why did you dress all dark and sinister when you first starting popping up?” Janus threw back at him.

“I at least was upfront about who I was in the beginning!”

Virgil instantly regretted how he worded that. Janus smirked when he noticed Vigil’s eyes widen in realization. “Well look who’s the liar now.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, I...” Virgil trailed off. He wanted to storm on in here and put Janus in his place, but all Janus had done was compare them to each other. If he wanted to be mad at Janus, he had to be mad at himself. 

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Janus sighed. “You know, I always respected you, Virgil.”

Virgil scoffed. “Well now I know you’re lying.”

“Believe what you want, I can’t stop you,” Janus shrugged. “Thomas is a good person, a little too good if you ask me. You, me, Remus- we were all viewed as villains because we all counteract what Thomas deemed to be the good parts of himself. Remus and Roman are the good and bad sides of creativity. Patton is selfless and honest while I’m selfish and deceitful. Logan is logical and doesn’t deal with emotions while you bring on fears that don’t make any logical sense and hold some sway on Thomas’ emotions.”

“I’m not one of you guys anymore though,” Virgil argued. 

“Virgil you’re missing the point- there is no them vs. us. We’re all Thomas’ sides. He had a very black and white view on things before, but now he’s maturing and understanding everything’s not so clear cut. It started with you when he realized you weren’t evil, you just were.”

Janus took a few steps towards Virgil, closing some of the gap between them. “I’m not telling you to trust every word I say, I’m literally deceit, that’d be idiotic if you suddenly did a 180 and trusted me. What I am saying is you can trust that I have Thomas’ best interest in mind.”

The conversation was done. Virgil knew he didn’t have anything else to bring up. He wasn’t angry anymore at least, but he defiantly felt more lost and confused. This wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go. 

“Did you talk to Roman?” Virgil asked, unsure of what else to bring up.

“Yes, it went swimmingly,” Janus answered a little too quickly.

“What you said hurt him.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “You’re right, it’s not like he started it by insulting me when I was trying to show the group that they could trust me. I’m completely in the wrong here.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’m just saying, dinner will be starting soon. Patton wants all of us to get along. If you two can’t behave-“

“Save your threats, the oaf already came to apologize,” Janus waved him off. “I don’t think he believed me when I apologized for the hurtful blow, but that’s more of a him issue than a me not owning up to my own shit issue.”

“What exactly did you say to him anyway?”

Janus shrugged. “Nothing too bad. Just told him it was a good thing he didn’t have a mustache or else I wouldn’t be able to tell who the evil twin is.”

Virgil sighed. Dinner was going to be a disaster. “That’s a low blow and you know it.”

“He called my name stupid!” Janus snapped.

“Well...” Virgil smirked. For a second Janus looked hurt, but once Virgil started laughing he caught on.

“Oh, ha ha!” Janus laughed sarcastically. “That’s real rich coming from the guy who’s name sounds like Virgin.”

“Patton already made that joke,” Virgil said, laughing harder. That was a surprise to Janus.

“No! Morality made a virgin joke?”

“Not intentionally but he still said it!”

The pair stood there laughing for a bit and for the first time in awhile, Virgil found himself missing moments like that from before. Back when he was still with Janus and Remus. 

As their laughter died down, Janus wipes away a tear and looked at Virgil. “Are we good?”

Virgil paused for a moment before slowly nodding. “Yeah. We’re good.” 


	7. Chapter 7

Virgil didn’t miss the way Patton’s eyes lit up when he saw Janus and him walk into the dining room together. He also didn’t miss the distain in Roman’s glance at the two. 

“You two are just in time!” Patton exclaimed, setting the stack of plates he was carrying down. “Roman and I were just about to set the table. Would one of you mind telling Logan we’re almost ready to eat?”

“I’ll get him,” Roman volunteered, leaving the room quickly before anyone could say anything. 

Virgil walked around the table and pointed towards the kitchen. “I can grab cups if you want,” he offered, trying to distract Patton from how they were already off to a rocky start.

“Oh yeah, thanks kiddo!” Patton said. He started laying out the plates while Virgil waved for Janus.

“You can grab the silverware. If you’re gonna join in on family dinner time, you can help out.”

Janus silently followed Virgil into the kitchen. Virgil started gather up enough cups for everyone while Janus sorted through the forks and knives.

“Tonight’s going to be entertaining,” Janus commented, grabbing spoons too for some reason.

“Don’t start anything,” Virgil warned. “Glass or cup?”

“I already told you, we exchanged apologies the other day. It’s not my fault Roman leans heavily on the dramatic side. Glass please.”

“We don’t need spoons. And I know Roman has his own flaws, but he’s not here right now, so I’m warning you,” Virgil explained. “I told him before that you two don’t know each other as well. So my warning to you is don’t take everything he says to heart. He likes to throw around insults, but he doesn’t mean them.”

“Oh I know, poor thing is so insecure that he has to bring others down to lift himself up,” Janus said, his tone dripping with fake pity.

“Like you don’t do the same thing,” Virgil scoffed.

“I lash out when I’m attacked,” Janus corrected. “I know who I am, I don’t need to hide behind false confidence.”

“No, just other people’s identities.”

Janus chuckled. “You got me there.”

Virgil wasn’t going to lie, it was weird being able to joke around with Janus again. It had been so long since they got along that he had forgotten when they weren’t butting heads they actually bounced off each other pretty well. Defiantly more along the lines of intellectual roasting compared to whatever sinful comments Remus would think up.Virgil tried to push the thought away. He had to be careful tonight, he didn’t want Roman thinking that he was choosing Janus over him. He had already gone through the stages of Roman’s slow acceptance of him, he didn’t want to start back over at square one.

The two brought the dishes into the dining room and set them up at each seat. Patton already had the plates and food set up and was choosing to stand at one end of the table and stare at the hallway, clearly waiting for Roman and Logan to walk in. 

“Did Roman talk to you while he was helping you out earlier?” Virgil asked, pulling Patton’s attention away from the hall.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, he just had some stuff on his mind. I think we got it all sorted out though!” Patton said. He glanced down at the table and then back up to the newest member. “Janus, feel free to sit anywhere! We’re just waiting for Logan and Roman to come back!”

Janus looked at Virgil for confirmation. Thankfully Virgil could tell what he was asking without him needing to say anything.

“Don’t sit at the end there, that’s Roman’s spot. Anywhere else is fine, the rest of us all rotate honestly,” Virgil said, nodding his head towards Roman’s seat.

Janus sat down in the chair on the side furthest away from Roman’s and folded his hands neatly in his lap. Virgil sat across from him while Patton took a seat at the end opposite Roman. The three of them sat in silence for a bit, no one really knowing what to say.

Virgil got sick of the awkwardness first and spoke up. “I tried inviting Remus,” he admitted.

That got a reaction from the pair. 

“Oh?” Janus hummed, obviously curious. “And how’d that go?”

“Do I need to get another chair?” Patton asked.

“He said no,” Virgil said quickly. “I didn’t really offer, I just said you were making spaghetti and he turned down a seat before I could actually offer up one.”

“Yes, well it’s probably for the best,” Janus said, nodding his head.

Patton stared at him, obviously confused. “I thought the two of you were friends?”

“Me? Friends with Remus? That’s a laugh and a half,” Janus chuckled.

Patton looked to Virgil, unable to tell if Janus was being serious or not. Virgil rolled his eyes at the snakes behavior. “He’s lying, they’re friends.”

“Yes, my apologies,” Janus coughed. “I forget that you are not quite used to how I word things.”

“Try and keep it honest tonight,” Virgil sighed. “I don’t want to play translator every time they can’t tell if you’re lying or not.”

“I’d hate to put that sort of pressure on you, Virgil,” Janus smirked. 

“Truth?” Patton guessed, glancing between the two for confirmation.

“Nope,” Virgil said, popping the end. “He lives to torment me.”

“Guilty as charged,” Janus laughed.

Virgil found himself laughing along while Patton kept looking between the two. He smiled and leaned back in his chair. “You know, I’m not exactly sure what’s happening, but I’m glad to see you two getting along! I was a little worried about tonight, not gonna lie-“

“Of course you wouldn’t lie, that’s my job,” Janus teased.

Patton chuckled. “You got me there!” Virgil could tell that the father figure felt a little out of place sitting there with the two so-called ‘dark sides,’ but he was trying. He wasn’t chastising Janus for sprinkling lies into his speech. Instead he was adapting, or at least attempting to adapt, to the tone Virgil and Janus had set. Needless to say, Virgil could appreciate the effort. He already knew he and Patton got along, and he knew Patton was trying to accept Janus and be supportive, but to see that effort put into practice...

It brought a genuine smile to Virgil’s face.

The sound of footsteps approaching the dining room shut up Janus’ laughter real quick. Patton’s eyes shot up and Virgil silently prayed that Roman hadn’t run off to his room to skip out on dinner. Tonight meant so much to Patton.

Both Logan and Roman entered the dining room and Virgil let out a sigh of relief he didn’t realize he was holding in. Patton clapped his hands together in excitement while Logan took a seat next to Janus. Roman eyed Janus warily before pulling out his own chair and sitting down. 

“Alright, now that we’re all here,” Patton said, taking a moment to look at everyone. “Let’s eat!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there goes my chapter a day streak. In my defense, I started work again yesterday (I’m a shift supervisor at Starbucks) and I’m less than an hour late (at least in my timezone). 
> 
> I meant to include the whole dinner scene, but work was tiring and I had a little bit too much wine before sitting down to write (I’m 21 don’t worry). My bad. The good news is I’m off tomorrow so I’ll be able to get the second part of the dreaded dinner scene out then!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn’t mean to make you guys wait! Long story short, I had to go in on my off day. I’m going to go ahead and say I’m not sure if the next chapter will be up later today or late Monday. Between work, Mother’s Day, and finals, I’m a little pinched for time. I’ll try not to make you guys wait too long though, don’t worry!

Patton led them in saying grace before letting everyone fill their plates. Virgil made sure to snatch up a piece of garlic bread before Roman could steal the whole plate. The pot of spaghetti was passed around the table along with the bowl of salad.

“Been awhile since we did this,” Virgil said, breaking the silence. He hated it when the group was quiet. They weren’t quiet people. It always felt wrong.

“Yes, it’s nice to try and get back into our old routine,” Logan nodded.

“I’m just happy that we’re all together,” Patton said, twirling spaghetti on to his fork. “I’ve missed you guys!”

Janus cleared his throat and looked around the table. “I would just like to thank you for inviting me tonight. I know not everyone is happy with Thomas’ decision, but I appreciate the effort nonetheless.”

Patton beamed and Virgil let out a sigh of relief. Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be the disaster he thought it was going to be.

Roman snorted, his silverware hitting his plate as he tried to cover his laughter. Everyone shifted their attention to the Prince and waited.

“Roman?” Patton asked, his voice wavering just a bit. Thinking fast, Virgil kicked Roman’s shin under the table.

“Ow!” Roman yelped in pain. “What was that for?”

“Play nice,” Virgil hissed under his breath.

“Say, Patton, what’s your secret ingredient in the spaghetti again?” Logan asked, trying to redirect everyone’s attention.

“Love,” Patton said, taking a bite of his own dinner. “And cumin.”

“Is there garlic in the sauce or is that just the bread?” Janus asked.

“Yeah I decided to try adding some garlic powder to the sauce this time. Figured I’d... spice it up a bit,” Patton said, smiling widely. Logan and Roman groaned while Virgil and Janus tried to keep themselves from chuckling.

“Nice,” Virgil smirked.

“That was horrible,” Janus said, trying to hide his smile.

“Wait did you seriously add garlic powder to the sauce while also serving garlic bread?” Logan asked. “That’s too much garlic.”

“There’s no such thing,” Patton said. “Whoever told you that is a liar.”

“Guilty,” Janus smirked.

Patton stared at Janus for a moment before bursting out laughing. Virgil couldn’t help but laugh along as well. Even Logan allowed himself to smile a bit at the joke. The only one who didn’t seem pleased was-

“Stop, you guys, we can’t sit here and pretend this is normal,” Roman snapped. They all stopped laughing, turning back to Roman.

“Roman, please, we can talk about this later-“

“No!” Roman said, cutting Patton off. “You invited the serpent to the table and now you all want to play pretend and act like this isn’t weird at all!”

“Sorry, I wasn’t aware jokes weren’t allowed at the dinner table,” Janus said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

“They’re allowed,” Logan clarified.

“I get it, kiddo,” Patton said, desperately trying to keep the table together. “A lot of change is happening, big change! And change can be scary, but change isn’t always a bad thing. It was a big change when Virgil joined us-“

Virgil shrunk down in his chair at the sound of his name.

“-and that was for the best! Janus being here could be a good change too. You just have to be open to the idea.”

“I thought we already worked through and accepted that change was an okay thing almost 3 years ago?” Logan asked. “Roman do you need to review the notes I took over that lesson?”

“No!”

“Then what is this really about, kiddo?” Patton asked.

“Roman, I’m going to be honest,” Janus said, earning a scoff from Roman. He ignored him and continued, “I thought the big issue was solved when we exchanged sorries the other day.”

“You mean when I apologized and you lied through your teeth in an attempt to win me over,” Roman glared.

Virgil pulled up his hood and pulled the drawstrings, trying to escape the tense situation. He knew tonight wasn’t going to go well, but he had hoped they’d at least get partway through their meal before shit hit the fan. He could see Logan watching him carefully. Virgil shook his head and waved him off. He would be fine, he was just unsure of what to do in the situation. If he defended Janus, he risked Roman going back to viewing him as a ‘dark side.’ If he defended Roman, he risked Janus’ newfound trust in him.

“I said I was sorry for comparing you to your brother,” Janus said.

“That was obviously a lie!” Roman snapped. “You literally said a few minutes ago that you’re a liar! You referred to yourself as ‘The Lord of the Lies’ after the wedding! How do you expect me to believe anything you say? Your name is literally Deceit!”

“Janus,” Virgil said, suddenly speaking up. Roman paused and turned to stare at the anxious side, clearly shocked by the sudden comment.

Virgil regretted speaking up instantly and mentally slapped himself for doing so, but he couldn’t back down now. “His name is Janus. Maybe if you used it, he’d feel more like a person to you.”

Everyone was staring at Virgil now and he hated it. Patton and Logan looked concerned, for Roman’s inevitable reaction or Virgil’s well being he couldn’t tell. Janus though looked surprised, but there was a relieved, hopeful look in his eyes. Someone was sticking up for him.

Roman scoffed, pushing his chair out away from the table. “I figured you’d be the one person on my side in all of this with how hard you pushed Thomas not to trust him. Should’ve figured though, you two were friends before after all. Guess old habits die hard.”

That... that really hurt. Virgil couldn’t even think of a response as he watched Roman get up and walk away, retreating back to his room. Patton looked like he wanted to chase after the Prince, but he hesitated, instead choosing to focus on Virgil who seemed frozen in place after Roman’s remark.  
  


“Kiddo, you know he didn’t mean it,” he whispered, sliding his hand across the table to reach out to Virgil.

“Intent doesn’t change the fact that it was still rude,” Janus said. “I understand the attack on me, but Virgil didn’t deserve that.”

  
“Neither one was warranted,” Logan sighed. “This is getting out of hand.”

Virgil forced himself to exhale the breath he had been holding in. He placed his hands on the table and shakily stood up, keeping his eyes downward. There was one way they all knew was almost foolproof when it came to dealing with their larger issues. He took a deep breath and looked up at the three still at the table.

“We need to talk to Thomas.”


	9. Chapter 9

“All of us?” Logan asked.

“Right now?” Patton chimed in.

“Ooo this’ll be fun,” Janus grinned. “First time I’m actually invited to the Thomas talk.”

“Yes all of us, yes right now,” Virgil answered, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. “If we let this sit and stew, it’s only going to get worse.”

Patton twiddled his thumbs nervously. “Shouldn’t we give him some kind of heads up? What if he’s busy?”

“Playing Kingdom Hearts doesn’t count as busy. Plus, it’s kind of my thing to just show up. Like Roman said, old habits die hard,” Virgil scoffed. 

**********

Virgil had to keep himself from laughing at the sight of Thomas fumbling the controller in shock and the sudden appearance of Virgil. This was a serious matter, even if scaring Thomas just a little bit brought him joy. 

Yep, he still had it.

“Virgil!” Thomas said, pausing the game and putting the controller down on the couch. “Wasn’t expecting you here now. Not that I’m not glad to see you!” He quickly recovered. 

“Thomas, we have an issue,” Virgil said, trying to get straight to the point.

Logan was the next to rise up, adjusting his tie as he took his place by the stairs. “Glad to see you’re keeping the Yerkes-Dodson curve appropriately balanced,” he said, giving Virgil a dry look. Maybe it hadn’t been the best time to scare Thomas a bit, but there was no going back and Virgil had no regrets.

“Just doing my job.”

“A little too well,” Thomas chuckled. “Logan, good to see you too. Gonna admit, I wasn't really expecting to see any of you guys today, so I don’t really know what’s going on.”

“I told you guys we should’ve given him a heads up!” Patton said, rising up. “Now he’s all confused to see our heads up without a proper heads up!”

“I hated every part of how you phrased that,” Logan deadpanned. 

“Patton, good to see you again,” Thomas grinned. Virgil mentally noted how Thomas’ smile hadn’t quite reached his eyes like when he normally saw Patton. 

One problem at a time.

Janus appeared and looked around the room for a moment, studying where everyone was standing. Thomas shot Virgil a concerned look. He wasn’t worried about Janus being there, but rather Virgil’s reaction to Janus. 

“Whatcha looking for, Janus?” Virgil asked. He figured if he showed Thomas that the two were on good terms now that that would ease some of his fear. 

“You all have spots to stand in. Just trying to figure out where to go,” Janus mumbled, more to himself than the group. Logan took a side step over and gestured to the stair rail. 

“You May stand there if you wish,” he offered. “But I’d make a decision quickly if we want to address the matter at hand.”

“What’s the matter with my hand?” Thomas laughed. It sounded a bit too peppy and a tad too loud for a joke that none of the other sides (okay, save for Patton) found funny. Thomas cleared his thought when he realized none of the others (save for Patton) were laughing. “So... Virgil? You and Janus? You two are good?”

“Define ‘good,’” Janus smirked.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “We’re good.”

“Well if you’re all good, and I’m good, then you mind filling me in on why the sudden surprise?” Thomas asked, shifting his gaze between all of them.

“Are you good, kiddo?” Patton asked.

“Patton, I thought you said you were done asking that,” Thomas groaned.

“Oh, no I didn’t mean morally good!” He quickly backpedalled. “I meant are you mentally good? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, actually I’ve been doing much better,” Thomas said. “I’ve been taking some me-time. Ya know, relaxing, playing some video games.”

“Nice,” Janus nodded. 

“We’re here because of Roman’s hissy fit,” Virgil explained.

Patton chuckled. “Nice snake pun.”

Logan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose annoyed while Thomas glanced over to where Roman normally stood.

“What do you mean?”

“Sorry, did my eyes deceive me last time I showed up and saw Roman and Patton fighting over Janus now being here?” Virgil asked.

“Clearly,” Janus muttered. 

“I’m confused,” Thomas admitted. “Verge, you’re okay with Janus now, but Roman is still upset?”

“Virgil has been communicating with all of us since our last meeting. Roman on the other hand has been avoiding discussing the subject matter without turning it into an automatic argument,” Logan explained. 

“We were hoping you could maybe... talk to Roman and explain why you need Janus to have a say now,” Patton said, hesitating slightly.

Thomas looked around at all of the sides currently present and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Did you guys not tell Roman you were all going to be here?”

“Nope,” Virgil said, popping the ending. 

“There was an... altercation during dinner tonight that happened only a few minutes ago,” Logan explained.

“Just so you’re completely caught up,” Janus said, cutting in. “Roman came to me and apologized for making fun of my name. In return, I apologized for comparing him to Remus. Since he believes everything I say is a lie, he didn’t believe me and then tonight, after throwing a fit over me being at dinner, Virgil tried to stand up for me. Roman insulted Virgil and stormed off like the man child he is.”

Logan nodded. “What he said.”

“Minus the man child insult,” Patton corrected.

“Right, because how he reacted was completely warranted,” Janus said, rolling his eyes.

“He attacked Virgil?” Thomas asked, turning his attention to the anxious side.

Virgil shrugged. “Not important right now. The issue is we can’t keep going like this. We’ve all had disagreements before, but he’s lashing out and it’s not okay. It’s stressing me out which is only going to stress you out in the long run.”

“If he’s not cooperating with the group, your work is going to suffer for it,” Logan said. “He’s the source of your creativity. Since your job is centered around being creative and making content, he needs to be willing to work with everyone.”

“It’ll be like the time I ducked out,” Virgil explained.

“Or why you were in _such_ a great head space before you started listening to me,” Janus said sarcastically.

“Thomas wasn’t in a great head space before,” Logan corrected.

Janus frowned and stared at the logical side. “Thanks for the clarification.”

“Okay well let me call him up here and see if I can get through to him,” Thomas said. “Roman?” He waved his hand over to where Princey normally stood, but nothing happened. “Uh oh.”

“Roman? Kiddo?” Patton tried, to no avail. 

Virgil groaned and buried his face in his hands. If Roman wasn’t coming up, that meant he was doing what Virgil did- locking himself in his room instead of dealing with the issues he had face-to-face.

“Maybe he’s not here because I’m here?” Janus pointed out. 

“But you need to be here if we’re going to address this properly,” Logan sighed, clearly annoyed with the situation.

“How about this? I’ll go back, then you can try calling him again. Once you talk to him and he’s okay with me showing face, call me back up and we can talk this out like proper adults.”

Thomas nodded, liking the idea. “Okay, but when you get back you have to stop lying for this conversation. I’ll try and convince him that you’re promising to be honest, but I need you to actually promise to be honest.”

“You have my word,” Janus said.

“Glove off,” Thomas said, pointing to Janus’ hand. Janus rolled his eyes, but took the glove off anyway and raised his right hand.

“You have my word.”

With that, Janus put his glove back on and sunk down. Logan scooted back over to the center of where he normally stood and they all stared at Thomas. He took a deep breath and looked back towards the tv.

“Okay, let’s try this again. Roman?”

They all held their breath and waited. Virgil bit his lip, scared that Roman would still ignore them. When they saw the familiar white and red suit rise up and Roman’s annoyed expression, they all collectively let out a sigh of relief. 

Roman took a second to glare at all of them and cross his arms before turning his attention to Thomas.

“You rang?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for splitting it up (again). I was able to get this done between my first final and work and finish it up once I got off, but I have another final early tomorrow (and work again). Good news is after that, I’m off the next 2 days. I’m hoping to actually finish this story up by the end of this week! 
> 
> I’ve decided to for sure turn this into a series. I’ll do chaptered fics when Thomas gives us updates on the Sanders Sides series and one-shots to fill the gaps. Thank you guys for all of your lovely comments and taking the time to read this. I appreciate all of you so much 💚


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about this chapter. I honestly took more time researching for 2 lines of dialogue from Logan than time I spent studying for my German final that I have in 5 hours.

“Hey, Romannnnn,” Thomas said, dragging Princey’s name out. “It has been brought to my attention that you have some rather... strong opinions about a certain side. So we thought that it would be beneficial for everyone if there was a safe place to discuss those feelings so we can all move past them and work together in the future.”

“I think I’ve shared my opinions on the matter plenty. Why would I repeat myself again?” Roman asked. “Might as well change my name to Logan with how much everyone’s been ignoring me.”

Logan blinked in surprise at the sudden diss. 

“Wow,” Virgil chuckled humorlessly. 

“See, that’s what we’re talking about, kiddo,” Patton said. “You seem angry and it’s okay to feel that way, but the way you’re expressing yourself is hurting others. You’re allowed to be upset, but we need to find a healthier way to express that feeling.”

Roman sighed and rubbed his hand down his face. “I know, I know, I’m sorry, Logan. I’m just over this whole ordeal!”

“It’s alright, Roman. However, I think you owe someone else here an apology as well,” Logan said.

He nodded. “You’re right. Patton, I’m sorry for storming off during dinner. I knew how much tonight meant to you, and yet I still caused problems.”

“I accept your apology, Roman,” Patton said, smiling.

“A good thing to say sorry for, but Patton was not who I was referring to,” Logan sighed. Virgil shook his head at Logan trying to get him to drop it. He wasn’t here to get an apology from the Prince. That could wait for now.

“Roman, why don’t you tell us the issues you’re having regarding... the new changes,” Thomas suggested. Virgil noted how he was purposefully avoiding bringing Janus up by name or title. Depending on where this conversation went, he’d have to bring that up later.

“The first time you met Deceit,” Roman said, gesturing to Thomas, “I hadn’t realized it was him at first. I went along with his plans of lying and even defended them because I thought he was Patton! If morality said it was fine then it had to be good! But when we found out it was actually that slimy snake manipulating everything...”

“But Roman, you came to the conclusion on your own that you didn’t want to lie in that situation,” Thomas reminded him. “We both settled on not lying before Ja- Deceit revealed himself. Also, I was the one who suggested lying in the first place. You’re my drive, my motivation! You were okay with lying in the beginning because I was already heading in that direction!”

“Dr. Jennice Vilhauer states that lying in order to protect someone a person cares about is a trait very commonly found in people,” Logan added. “I think it would’ve been strange if Thomas hadn’t thought about lying to spare Joan’s feelings, even if that wasn’t the option he went with in that scenario.”

“Okay, you can argue that that instance was to protect a friend,” Roman said, hurrying past Logan’s point. “But then the call back popped up. We weren’t lying to spare Lee and Mary Lee’s feelings after we forgot about their wedding. We were discussing lying to skip the wedding and do something selfish, and I was okay with that!”

“Well, when you all were discussing lying to them, it was in an attempt to spare their feelings I’d argue. If Thomas didn’t care how Lee and Mary Lee felt, he would’ve simply called them and informed them that he wouldn’t be going to the ceremony, callback or not,” Logan countered. 

“You didn’t go along with Janus' suggestion anyway!” Patton said. Roman shot Patton a look at the use of Janus’ name and Virgil fought to hold his tongue. The others were making progress getting to the root of the issue. He didn’t want to jump in suddenly and ruin that.

“But me not going along with what he said turned out to be the wrong call!” Roman shouted. “I did the morally right thing because I trusted your judgement, Patton! Between you, Thomas, and Virgil’s reactions to Deceit in the courtroom, how could I have made any other decision? But now suddenly I’m wrong for not trusting him?”

“No one is saying you’re wrong for not trusting him,” Logan commented. 

“No, that’s exactly what you’re all saying!” Roman snapped. “I wanted to go to the callback. I wanted to make the selfish choice. Instead, I told Thomas to take the selfless route, and then when Deceit slid in and told us, told me, that my choice had hurt Thomas and he was right the whole time? And you all agreed with him?”

“Virgil wasn’t present for that discussion,” Logan corrected. 

“ _Hush_ ,” Virgil hissed. He didn’t want the focus suddenly shifting to him. Thankfully, Roman continued on as if he hadn’ t heard Logan.

“Thomas, you keep flip flopping back and forth between agreeing with Deceit and disagreeing with him. I’ve wanted to go along with his choices in the past, and every time I got criticized for agreeing with him, and the one time I go against him, you tell me I was wrong to do so? What’s the right answer?”

“Roman, I’m sorry that my actions regarding J-Deceit have hurt you and caused so much confusion,” Thomas apologies, his voice soft. “I think we were all confused then. It’s not an easy situation to view as black and white. There’s a lot of confusing gray areas, but that’s why we wanted to talk to you so we could figure out how you felt about everything and work to move forward without ignoring your emotions.”

“You were unconscious when I brought this up before, so I’ll repeat it again for your sake,” Logan spoke up, adjusting his glasses. “Psychologist James Pennebaker discovered that subjects who talked about their thoughts often felt better emotionally. Do you feel better now that you’ve vented some of your thoughts on the matter?”

Roman huffed and crossed his arms. “I guess.”

“That’s good!” Patton smiled. “Progress is good!”

“You still have some concerns though,” Virgil said, finally speaking up now that some of the tension has eased up. 

Roman nodded. “I have a hard enough time getting you to listen to me, Thomas. I don’t want to make the wrong choice here and choose to trust Deceit only for you to change your mind next week and then I suddenly find myself accidentally making another wrong decision.”

“Roman, just because you agree with someone I might disagree with doesn’t make you wrong or, or evil!” Thomas explained. “You’re allowed to have opinions that differ on matters. Patton already said he was going to work on being less pushy with his judgements towards me, and by extension you.” Patton nodded and pointed to Thomas, agreeing with his statement. “There were times when you agreed with Virgil before I was able to accept that he was a necessary side.”

“There’s never a wrong time to dress in drag and do the hula,” Virgil chuckled quietly. Logan gave him a strange look, but didn’t comment on the sudden statement. 

“I promise that I will try and listen to you more,” Thomas continued. “I think it’ll be easier now to chase after my hopes and dreams if I have De- Janus there to convince me that it’s okay to be selfish at times.” 

That connection seemed to flip a switch in Roman’s mind. Virgil let out a sigh of relief. It was in Roman’s best interest to get along with Janus if he wanted to push Thomas towards his goals. The issue before was Thomas didn’t trust Janus, and therefore didn’t want to listen to him, and by ignoring that selfish part of him, he was in turn unintentionally ignoring Roman pushing him to chase after things that he wanted. Virgil felt bad for not making the connection on his own sooner, but that was why he suggested they talk to Thomas. 

“He’s... not the villain anymore,” Roman said quietly. Thomas smiled and nodded.

“He’s not the villain anymore. In fact, he may be one of your best ally’s. You just have to be willing to look past his history and your original bias against him so you two can effectively work together.”

“A good start would be actually using his name,” Virgil said, repeating his point from dinner earlier. 

Roman blinked and shook his head in shock. Virgil smirked, glad his point finally made sense to Princey. 

“You’re right, Virgil,” Roman admitted. “And I’m really sorry about what I said earlier. That was uncalled for. You were just trying to give me advice and I crossed the line.”

“I appreciate the apology and I’ll forgive you once I see you put my advice to good work.”

Roman bit his lip and nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Why don’t we call Janus back up so you can tell him some of your hesitations behind trusting him and you two can have a safe, moderated conversation?” Thomas suggested. 

Roman nodded again. “That would be fine... but how can I tell if he’s lying when we talk?”

“I had him swear to tell the truth when he came back,” Thomas explained.

“Plus I’m pretty good at catching him when he twists his words,” Virgil added. “I’ll translate his lies if he slips.”

“Alrighty then,” Roman sighed. “Call him up, let’s get this over with.”

Thomas stared at Roman for a moment to make sure he was truly ready before facing the stair rail. “Janus, Roman’s ready to talk to you!”

Logan quickly scooted over right before Janus suddenly appeared. The snake boy took a moment to feel out the vibe of the room before shifting his full attention over to Roman.

“You rang?” He smirked.

“Play nice,” Virgil hissed.

“Dec- _Janus_ ,” Roman started, struggling for a moment to use the correct name. Janus raised his eyebrows in shock at the sound of Roman actually using his name, but said nothing. “A few days ago, you said you were sorry for comparing me to my brother.”

Janus nodded. “And I meant it.”

Roman sighed. “I don’t think you were... one hundred percent wrong with your comparison at the time.” 

Now that was not where Virgil was expecting Roman to go. Even Thomas and Patton seemed surprised at the prince’s admission. Logan, of course, was unfazed as always. 

“Oh?” Janus hummed.

“Recently I’ve been... lashing out,” Roman continued. “I’ve been saying some pretty hurtful things to those whom I care for. That’s not a very heroic deed. Just because I apologized doesn’t excuse how I acted in the moment. So, I’m sorry for not using your name and calling it stupid.”

Janus smiled. Virgil almost had to do a double take. He never saw a sincere smile on the snake’s face before. 

“Thank you for the apology. I too would like to apologize for misleading you in the past on my intentions,” Janus said. “It’s going to be an adjustment for all of us, but in the end, we all want what’s best for Thomas. We might have different ways of going about it, but the end goal is the same.”

“This is so pure,” Patton whispered. Thomas nodded in agreement and even Virgil had to admit it was touching to see Janus and Roman actually talk through their issues and own up to them.

Was this what it was like when Roman apologized to Virgil just before he revealed his name?

“Thomas brought it to my attention that you would be a powerful ally in my goal of pushing him towards his hopes and dreams,” Roman admitted.

“Yes, pursuing self interests of Thomas’ is also a goal of mine,” Janus nodded.

Roman smiled and relaxed when he realized no one was attacking him for admitting to wanting to work with Janus. 

“So...” Virgil said, glancing between the two. “Are you guys good?”

Roman and Janus stared at each other for a moment before Roman nodded. 

“Yes, I think we’re good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this managed to live up to the hype! I know some people were excited for this chapter so I hope it was enjoyable! If you’re worried I missed something, let me know! (It might be addressed later on and I just skipped over it for now).
> 
> In case you missed it, I updated the number of chapters that this fic has left. Next chapter will be the conclusion to this specific fic, but like I’ve said, I will make this a series and do some one-shots and more chaptered fics that are all connected.


	11. Chapter 11

“Thomas, this isn’t okay,” Roman pouted from his spot on the floor. Janus rolled his eyes while Thomas got the movie set up.

“Roman, we went with your choice last time,” Thomas said. 

“Uh, we voted for Frozen,” Roman corrected.

“I didn’t vote for Frozen,” Logan denied. “Neither did Patton. Virgil?”

“Nope,” he said, leaning back against the wall. Virgil had chosen to sit on top of the couch again for movie night. He was definitely less anxious than last time since they weren’t attempting to distract themselves from another issue.

“I thought lying was my job, Roman,” Janus smirked. He had chosen to sit with his legs crossed at the end of the couch between Virgil and Roman. 

“We’re still watching a Disney movie. I fail to see what the issue is,” Logan said. 

“We all gotta take turns, kiddo,” Patton said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. 

“But why The Jungle Book remake?” Roman asked. “Why not the original? The animation is what makes it fun!”

“I’m sorry, have you heard Scarlett Johansson sing Trust in Me?” Janus asked, sounding offended. “That alone is a good enough reason. Plus, this is still mostly animated. It’s just a different style of animation made to look realistic. Think animation pretending to be live action.”

“So this is basically the lying form of animation?” Virgil asked.

“I’m glad you understand where I’m coming from, Virgil,” Janus sighed, leaning back into the couch. 

“Alright guys I’m going to hit play soon,” Thomas spoke up. “Last chance to grab snacks or change into pajamas.” He shot both Logan and Janus looks at the last comment.

Logan rolled his eyes. “I told you, I’m far too mature for that old onesie.”

“These are my pajamas,” Janus said, gesturing to his normal outfit.

“You sleep in a bowler hat?” Virgil asked.

“Obviously.”

“Sure, Jan,” Roman smirked.

“How long have you been waiting to use that?” Janus chuckled.

“Literally since you revealed your name.”

“Hey emo boy!” Remus called, popping his head up from behind the couch where he was hiding. “Toss me some popcorn!”

“Remus, there’s more in the kitchen if you want,” Thomas offered.

Virgil didn’t trust Remus with a microwave and instead opted to grab a handful of popcorn and throw it at the nude side. Thomas raised his arms to avoid being hit with flying snack food while Remus opened his mouth and tried to catch some before it hit the ground.

“Was that really necessary?” Logan asked. “Now you’ve made a mess. Crumbs will attract bugs and-“

“Thanks, Virgil!” Remus beamed, cutting Logan off and ducking back behind the couch. 

“Janus you can wear something comfier if you want,” Patton said. “Logan worries that we won’t take him seriously in his unicorn onesie, but this is a very safe environment.”

“I don’t know how safe it is with Remus behind the couch,” Janus chuckled, shooting a glance over in the Duke’s direction. 

Remus popped back up and crossed his arms over the top of the couch. “He’s right! I violate so many OSHA regulations.”

“Remus you sure do talk a lot for someone who claims they don’t want a seat at the table,” Virgil commented, grinning slightly. The atmosphere in the living room was very relaxed despite the playful bickering. 

“I’m not sitting, I’m laying down.”

“Technically right now you’re kneeling,” Logan corrected.

“What can I say?” Remus smirked, turning to the logical side. “I love being on my knees.”

“Alright!” Thomas said, clapping his hands together and standing up. “I’m going to the bathroom and then getting more popcorn so we don’t have to throw it around anymore!” Without waiting for anyone else to speak up, Thomas hurried out of the living room.

Patton took the time to get up and stretch, finishing off his mug of hot chocolate in the process. “I’m going to get a refill. Anyone else need drinks?”

“Purple Gatorade,” Virgil said, raising his hand as he spoke.

“Just a glass of water, please,” Logan requested. 

“Iced coffee for me,” Roman said.

“I don’t think Thomas has any iced coffee here, Roman,” Patton frowned.

“Then never mind.”

“I’m good,” Janus said.

Patton stared at the snake boy. “I’m going to be honest with you, I can’t tell if you’re lying or not.”

“Over what I want to drink?” Janus asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He stared back at Patton for a moment before cracking a smile and laughing. “No, I wasn’t lying, but now you’ve got me thinking about hot chocolate.”

“You want me to make you one?” Patton offered.

“Surprise me.”

Patton headed over to the kitchen while Virgil rolled his eyes at Janus’ vagueness. “A simple yes or no works too,” he scoffed, gently kicking Janus’ arm. 

“Since when am I known for giving straight answers?” Janus smirked.

“None of us can give straight answers,” Roman chimed in.

Without looking at each other, Roman stuck his hand back while Janus swung one of his hands down, the two of them delivering a crisp high-five without making eye contact. Virgil just stared at them for a moment, wondering how many times they rehearsed that beforehand.

“Yeah, I take it all back, I think I preferred it when you guys were fighting,” Virgil admitted. “This new dynamic you two have seems dangerous and as Thomas’ anxiety, it’s my job to keep him away from dangerous situations. So if you two will just go back to bickering and hating each other, that would be great.”

“Right, because us fighting before didn’t cause you any anxiety what-so-ever,” Janus teased. 

“Actually,” Logan spoke up, “now that all of us, or I guess almost all of us, have come to an agreement, Thomas’ mental health has been doing much better.”

“Almost all of us?” Janus asked. Virgil nodded towards where the Duke was laying down behind the couch, eating popcorn off the floor. 

“That’s a can of worms for another day,” Virgil muttered. 

“What’s that about worms you say?” Remus asked, looking up from the floor.

“Your mustache looks like a worm,” Roman laughed.

Remus popped his head up and covered his heart with his hands. “Roman, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Thomas and Patton both made their way back into the living room with snacks and drinks for everyone. Virgil took a swig of Gatorade while everyone got comfortable, ready to finally start the movie. He let out a content sigh while Thomas selected The Jungle Book remake. Virgil leaned back and smiled, looking forward to actually being able to enjoy family movie night this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it! The end of my very first Sanders Sides fic, and the start of a series I’m looking forward to continuing. Here’s the part where I get all sappy now:
> 
> Seriously, thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this. All of your comments mean so much to me. I love you guys, y’all are the best 💚
> 
> And now here comes message time: As I’ve said before, I’ll be doing a bunch of one-shots in the series. I have a few ideas already, but if you guys have any suggestions, let me know! I can’t promise that’ll I’ll be able to do every one, but I’ll read over them for sure! 
> 
> Once again, you guys are amazing and thank you so much for being here ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜


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